Graduating senior, L.J. Ambrogio, 17, blows a four-sided bubble during the Greenwich High School graduation ceremony at Cardinal Stadium, Friday evening, June 21, 2013. Ambrogio said he will be attending the University of Connecticut in the fall.
Photo: Bob Luckey

Graduating senior, James Yoon, 18, during the Greenwich High School graduation ceremony at Cardinal Stadium, Friday evening, June 21, 2013. Yoon said he will be attending Ithaca College in the fall.
Photo: Bob Luckey

Graduating senior, James Yoon, 18, during the Greenwich High School...

Graduating senior, Max Barefoot, 18, during the Greenwich High School graduation ceremony at Cardinal Stadium, Friday evening, June 21, 2013. Barefoot said he will be attending James Madison University in the fall.
Photo: Bob Luckey

Graduating senior, Leonard Bici, 17, smiles during the Greenwich High School graduation ceremony at Cardinal Stadium, Friday evening, June 21, 2013. Bici said he will be attending St. Lawrence University in the fall.
Photo: Bob Luckey

With diploma in hand, Gabriela Franchin, 17, receives a hug during the Greenwich High School graduation ceremony at Cardinal Stadium, Friday evening, June 21, 2013. Franchin said she will be attending the University of Connecticut in the fall.

Zak Blechman, 18, during the Greenwich High School graduation ceremony at Cardinal Stadium, Friday evening, June 21, 2013. Blechman said he will be attending the University of South Carolina in the fall.
Photo: Bob Luckey

Standing at a podium on the gridiron at Cardinal Stadium, just yards from the end zone, seemed a natural field position for the man renowned for triumphant touchdown calls each Sunday on ESPN.

But in his speech Friday evening during the commencement ceremony for Greenwich High School's graduating class of 2013, Chris Berman advised his young audience not to run their lives strictly from a playbook.

Calling some less predictable plays would also pay off for them, he argued.

"Don't have tunnel vision," the longtime ESPN anchor told the graduates. "Take some odd courses ... I took a course in Hitchcock films -- now that's some scary stuff, actually. I took a course in probability. I actually wanted to see if there was some formula at the racetrack whereby mathematics you could actually win, and the answer is no."

In narrating his own path to becoming one of America's most prominent sportscasters, Berman presented an expansive field of possibilities for the 663 graduates, in which they could score successes by plotting routes that were meaningful and interesting to them.

Victoria Hoffmeister, Greenwich High's valedictorian, also offered an opportunity-laden outlook for her peers -- a tone that fit the sanguine atmosphere of a ceremony that coincided with the first day of summer.

"You'll never know what could be unless you get outside your comfort zone and go for it," she said. "I've heard YOLO so many times this year that it's become sort of meaningless, but the message is actually constructive. You only live once, so we should gather our confidence and face the uncertainty implicit in every performance or big game or art project or even conversation with that cute guy or girl and just go for it."

Recalling the surprise discovery of a rope swing by him and a group of 11-year-old campers he was leading last summer in the Adirondack Mountains, Jordan Abbasi, one of the 2013 class' two salutatorians, urged his classmates to be receptive to similarly unexpected, rewarding experiences.

"As we seniors head out in 663 different directions, we may think we know where we're going, and that's as it should be," he said. "But beware of focusing only on the end goal. Do things that don't necessarily fit into where you think you're headed. In doing so, you'll likely find yourself headed in a new direction, or at least re-energized for the rest of your journey."

The thousands of family members who packed the stadium projected a similar sense of optimism. Holding a sign with an image of a graduation cap and diploma, Claire Horton cheered when her niece, Bethany Brown, stepped up to collect the scroll of paper that proclaimed her successful passage through her four years at Greenwich High.

"We're very proud and happy for Bethany and her friends," Horton said.

The ceremony held special significance, she added, because Brown is an only child and also the family's sole niece and grandchild.

"This is it -- this is the day," Horton added. "It's such a nice occasion."